Mike Emmons will stand and applaud today when he sees his stepson approach the hexagonal cage in Sacramento's ARCO Arena. Boos will drown out his cheers. The man who raised Mike Brown won't mind.

"It's part of the sport," said Emmons before he boarded a plane for California. "They want to see their guy win and he's got to beat Mikey."

You heard pride, not braggadocio, in Emmons' voice.

"Let them boo. Mikey's a humble, hardworking kid. They'd see that if they had a chance to know him."

Brown defends his World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight title today. Urijah Faber, known as the California Kid, had the title and his sport's attention. Brown beat him, and now Faber wants back the title and all it represents.

Promoters are calling this "The Greatest Featherweight Fight." Certainly it's the fight bringing new eyes – and money – to a sport that wants to move away from the fringe.

To Brown, who wrestled for Bonny Eagle High and Norwich University, it's just another fight.

"I don't care if the fight is in my kitchen or my backyard," said Brown during a conference call last week. "It goes on my record and that's why it's important."

In fact, the fight is in Faber's backyard. He's the stereotype of a California dude. Unpredictable in the cage and out, laid back, media friendly.

"He's a nice kid," said Emmons, who has met Faber. "Very likable." Very West Coast.

Brown has picked up on it. He may call Florida home, but he's still very much a son of blue-collar Maine with a college degree in biology thrown in. Faber is a mix of new-age hippie and hip-hop. It's not difficult to find the culture clash when their fans gather on the Internet.

Faber's fans will jeer Brown. They will be loud.

"I've become a real road warrior," said Brown, whose last fight was in his opponent's backyard of Texas. "I'm the bad guy. I'll be the bad guy in this fight.

"When I hear boos, it's like someone picking a fight with you. Once I get in the cage, I don't hear anything. It's all instinctual."

In 1996, another Mainer went west to fight. Joey Gamache of Lewiston had a 10-round date with Julio Cesar Chavez, then 96-2-1, at Anaheim, Calif. Gamache had half as many fights, but a record of 45-2. He heard a cascade of boos and invective when he left his locker room and walked down a long corridor to the arena floor.

Chavez was Mexican but Southern California was his backyard. Gamache may have had a dozen or so fans among the thousands.

As Gamache climbed through the ropes, the boos became thunderous. He ran across the ring and leaped onto the ring's ropes, throwing his arms wide. Bring it on, the gesture said.

Gamache went toe to toe with Chavez in the fourth but eventually lost on an eighth-round TKO. He won respect.

Unlike Gamache, Brown is not the underdog. He had that role when he and Faber first met in Florida last fall. Emmons was there that night.

"After Mikey won, I just stood there, half screaming, half crying. It was incredible. Not because it was a surprise. I just knew how hard he worked."

Emmons is a City of Portland employee, supervising vehicle maintenance. At the fights in Florida and Texas, he found Portland cops in the crowd. California is a long way, but Emmons won't be surprised if he sees more faces from home.

"I'm just dazzled by this kid," said Emmons, who came into Brown's life when he was about 6. "He taps that angel on his chest before the fight and he's focused."

The angel is a tattoo. Emmons wasn't thrilled with the new artwork on his stepson's chest. He told Brown. That's when he learned the angel was in memory of Kimberly, his mom and Emmons' wife. She died some years ago.

Boo Mikey? Emmons doesn't mind the noise. They don't know his stepson.

Staff Writer Steve Solloway can be contacted at 791-6412 or at:

ssolloway@pressherald.com